Urangeline (former Edzell, Mildura)
349 Barkers Road KEW, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
'Urangeline', originally known as 'Edzell' and later as 'Mildura', at 349 Barkers Road, Kew, is significant to the extent of its original fabric. The house was designed in 1883 by architectural practice Reed, Henderson & Smart for Scottish-born solicitor James C Stewart, and erected in 1884. The house was later owned by grazier Alexander McEdward, who renamed it 'Mildura' (1888-99), and then pastoralist Thomas Rand (1899-1922) who gave it its present name. The property was then purchased by the Baptist Union of Victoria to serve as the home for the newly established Carey Baptist Grammar School.
The later alterations and additions associated with its institutional use are not significant.
How is it significant?
'Urangeline' is of local historical, aesthetic, technical (creative), social and associative significance to the City of Boroondara, and potentially to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
'Urangeline' is of historical significance for its association with Carey Baptist Grammar School since 1922. The Baptist Union of Victoria acquired the property that year to serve as the home of its new denominational school, which officially opened in February the following year. It has been associated with the school since that time. It is also of social significance to Carey Baptist Grammar School students and alumni who hold strong associations with 'Urangeline'. (Criteria A & H)
'Urangeline' is of creative significance as one of the very first, and the oldest surviving, example of the new Queen Anne style in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The style was strongly influenced by the English Domestic Revival designs by English architects Richard Norman Shaw and William Eden Nesfield, which in turn drew inspiration from picturesque English rural buildings and Tudor architecture. In Australia, the style was a reaction against what was considered 'sham' Victorian architecture, with cement render finishes and ornament singled out for special condemnation. Reed, Henderson & Smart were responsible not only for introducing the Queen Anne style to Melbourne, but they also led the revival in the use of red face brick, of which 'Urangeline' is also a very early example. 'Urangeline' is of associative significance as a demonstration of the practice's seminal role during this period. (Criteria F & H)
'Urangeline' exhibits a number of features that would come to characterise the Australian version of the Queen Anne style, which became so popular in the late 1890s and early 1900s. These include picturesque asymmetrical massing, the combining of medieval motifs (such as the gable above the entrance) with classical ones (such as the segmentally arched windows with keystones, and triangular pediment to the entrance tower), tuckpointed red face brick walls and chimneys, turned timber verandah posts, and the decorative margin glazing to the sash windows. (Criterion E)
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Urangeline (former Edzell, Mildura) - Physical Description 1
'Urangeline' is located deep within the grounds of Carey Grammar School on Barkers Road, and is only visible to members of the public at a distance from Daniell Place. Its deep setbacks from the three surrounding streets indicate the size of its once-extensive grounds.
In keeping with its free-standing position within extensive grounds, the house is designed to be seen from multiple sides, with two main elevations to the west and south viewed while approaching along the original drive. The main living areas and bedrooms were located in the eastern part of the building, with the wing to the north east accommodating the kitchen, service areas and servants' rooms, serviced by a separate staircase.
The house is two storeys in height, with tuckpointed bichrome brick walls and a complex hipped roof covered in slates. Chimneys are also of red brick with cement-render cornice and stringcourse as well as vertical straps of projecting headers.
The building is entered via a recessed porch on the west elevation. It is set below a steep gable that extends above the roofline decorated with chequerboard brickwork in the apex. This detail was characteristic of Reed, Henderson & Smart's early Queen Anne designs, and is also seen on their 'Bona Vista' of 1884. At the first-floor level, above the arched porch entry, is a narrow window with a projecting sill carried on large scrolled corbels, and above it is a triangular entablature. To the north of the entrance tower are two double-height stained glass windows marking the internal staircase.
A number of alterations and additions have been made to the mansion over the years, including overpainting of the bi-chrome brick detailing. To the south of the entrance tower is a slightly projecting pavilion which shares similar detailing with the rest of the house. Comparison with the original plans and an early photo (Lewis 2004:78) indicate that this is a later extension. Originally there was a glazed conservatory at ground floor level, with its front wall in line with the tower, and a small terrace above it. It is not known precisely when this extension was made; it is not visible in a c1905 photo of the house, though does appear in works plans of 1947 (Public Records Office of Victoria, VPRS 8044). Considering the use of clinker bricks at the base of the ground-floor bay window and the form of the bay window itself, it appears to be an interwar-era alteration, possibly carried out shortly after acquisition by Carey Grammar.
The bay to the north of the entrance tower and stairhall has also been altered. The lower part of the chimney breast has been removed and the ground floor level wall rebuilt in clinker brick with three new multi-paned windows inserted. While the chimney breast to the first floor level remains, the chimney stack above has been removed. A new multi-paned window has been inserted to the first floor, north of the remnant chimney breast.
The south elevation is dominated by a two-storey canted bay at its centre. The central window of the first floor has a projecting sill on scrolled corbels similar to the one above the entrance. There is a return verandah at the south-east corner. While the verandah is restricted to the east elevation only in the original architect's plans, with no return to the north, its L-shape plan is visible in its current form in both the 1895 MMBW plan and a c1905 photo of the house (Lewis 2004:78). The verandah appears to have been reconstructed at least in part, with square posts replacing all but two of the turned half-posts (located at either end of the ground floor). The solid arched timber valances and turned timber balustrades of the first floor are replacements. Part of the first-floor level has been enclosed with timber infill to the south elevation.
The most substantial changes have occurred to the northern elevation and north-eastern service wing. While the original plans show a verandah to the north elevation, this has been truncated, with the western end removed and a slightly projecting pavilion constructed. Works plans from 1947 show that this was originally an open colonnade at ground floor level, though this has been subsequently bricked in. The remnant verandah has been infilled with lightweight panelling and windows at first floor level. The service wing was extended in c.1981, with new walls to the north and the east, including additions over the original single-storey section of the wing (Public Records Office of Victoria, VPRS 8044).
The north elevation retains the eastern half of its verandah, which is enclosed at first-floor level, but retains original turned timber posts (missing built-up timber capitals) and cast-iron corner brackets.
Most windows have segmentally arched heads with cement-render lintels and projecting keystones. Windows are mainly tall, slender double-hung sashes with a decorative version of margin glazing (where the borders of the window are set off with glazing bars).
Since its acquisition by Carey Grammar, there have been two extensions to the northern part of the building. The western half of the north verandah was removed to accommodate a shallow two-storey extension at the north-west corner of the building. Its hipped roof is slightly lower than the main one. A more recent and larger extension is to the north-east volume of the building, which sits under a separate hipped roof. It incorporates part of the original structure at the south end of the east elevation (the wall flanking an external chimney breast), as well as the remains of a small single-storey wing on the north side.
Other alterations include the demolition of a chimney in the northern half of the west elevation (though the external breast remains), and the enlargement of a first-floor window beside it.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - City of Kew Urban Conservation Study
Author: Pru Sanderson Design Pty Ltd
Year: 1988
Grading: BBoroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 4: Kew
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Significant
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